historic car / color associations

[rosawendel]

I've been thinking lately about car manufacturers and their "proper" historic colors - i.e. the colors you would associate with a particular car company, given their history in racing or in general.

these are the ones i've come up with so far:

mercedes: silver
ferrari: red
jaguar: green
honda: white (and red?)
BMW: blue and white
renault: light blue

i am unsure of some others:
-should ford be blue (as in the blue oval), or black (as in the color you could get the Model T in)?
-dodge seems to prefer to be red of late... is that how it's always been?
-should a "proper" audi also be silver?
-is toyota also white and red?
-should a porsche be red or black?
-what color should a jeep be?

etc, etc, etc. i know it's trivial, just somthing i've been thinking about of late.

[chop456]

Isn't Renault's traditional color yellow?

[Ed_Severson]

Yep.

http://antibillou.free.fr/perso/roc/f1_rs01_rene_arnoux.jpg

[rosawendel]

yellow... hmm. makes sense. they have carried that color forward in their current scheme... this is how we learn. good deal.

[RTKar]

In the days before mega sponsorships, colors were related to nationality too to some degree; British racing green w/ Lotus. Also there were Ferrari's raced with colors other than "Ferrari red", Porsche's also raced in silver, while Maserati in the 50's raced in a red scheme. I imagine most of the alternate colors were customer cars raced in color schemes other than the true mfg or national colors.

[chop456]

Bugatti = Blue(?)

[nrc]

National colors were a strong factor in developing manufacturer associations with a particular color.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_international_Formula_One_colors

[RTKar]

Bugatti = Blue(?)

yea in the 30's, cool cars

another one.... Auto Unions were silver

[racer2c]

I've been thinking lately about car manufacturers and their "proper" historic colors - i.e. the colors you would associate with a particular car company, given their history in racing or in general.

these are the ones i've come up with so far:

mercedes: silver
ferrari: red
jaguar: green
honda: white (and red?)
BMW: blue and white
renault: light blue

i am unsure of some others:
-should ford be blue (as in the blue oval), or black (as in the color you could get the Model T in)?
-dodge seems to prefer to be red of late... is that how it's always been?
-should a "proper" audi also be silver?
-is toyota also white and red?
-should a porsche be red or black?
-what color should a jeep be?

etc, etc, etc. i know it's trivial, just somthing i've been thinking about of late.


Slightly off topic, but De Cadenet in the Victory by Design Ferrari DVD said that while Ferrari is of course synonymous with red, Enzo himself preferred yellow and his personal cars were yellow.

The GT40 blue w/ white stripes was a throwback to the national colors, but correctly should have been white w/ blue stripes.

Dodge red was simply a marketing thing. Black cars are being used also in layouts.

Mercedes, Audi and Porsche predominately use silver in debuting a lineup a throwback to the national color.

A jeep should be covered in mud.

[Redwing]

Here are a few more team colors:

BRM - dark green with orange noseband
Aston Martin - light greenish-blue, used in the late 50's. early 50's are darker
McLaren - orange
Cooper - color with two white stripes
FIAT - In the early racing years it was a light red, different from Alfa-Romeo dark red
Brabham - dark green with a gold stripe and noseband
UDT Laystall - private team in the 50's-60's with very light green color
Maranello Concessionaires - private team in the 60's running Ferraris with red and a light blue nose band
Joseph Bonnier's cars - Belgian driver, yellow cars with red and white stripe
Frank Williams team colors were traditionally dark blue
BMW's blue/white stripes in F1 go back to their Brabham days in the early 80's, and they kept something similar for Williams and now Sauber. Compaq computer had to pay extra for the red underline on their name when they sponsored Williams-BMW.
Silk-Cut sponsored Jags have BRGreen rings around the headlights
Ecurie Ecosse - Private 50's team running Jags in dark blue
Jim Hall's Chapparals - White

[Rob]

Before the '80s F1 Brabhams, BMW's historical car color was pure white. Works Porsches were always silver years ago.

Honda's early F1 cars were painted in an off-white, rather than a bright white. When BAR was rechristened the Honda works team at the beginning of this year, the off-white was brought back.

Interestingly, Renault's first Grand Prix car was neither yellow, nor French blue. It was painted red when it raced in 1906.

I always think of Lotus as green and yellow, despite their years of John Player sponsorship. Their green wasn't quite as dark as Cooper or BRM.

Nissan always seemed to race in a red, white and blue scheme.

[Michaelhatesfans]

Rob Walker's cars were always blue with a white horizontal stripe across the nose.

http://www.classicdriver.com/upload/images/_uk/12173/img05.jpg

http://8w.forix.com/fos02/fos02-fri-49b.jpg

http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/photos-shelsley/80.jpg

[emjaya]

Blue with white stripe are the colours of Scotland.Rob Walker was part of the Johnny Walker whisky family.

http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/cref-11735.html

[Michaelhatesfans]

Blue with white stripe are the colours of Scotland.Rob Walker was part of the Johnny Walker whisky family.

http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/cref-11735.html

Nigel Roebuck did a great obituary on him. Not many can have "Gentleman" listed as your occupation on your passport!:thumbup:

[Joelski]

Two corrections:

Toyota: Rust

Jaguar: In addition to BRG, Tan and brown (for the oil stained square of cardboard that the dealer gives you to place on the garage floor). :D

[cart7]

I always preferred a Jag in a nice maroon color.

http://sturtevant.com/reed/etype5.jpg

[Joelski]

I always preferred a Jag in a nice maroon color.

http://sturtevant.com/reed/etype5.jpg

What year is that? 68-69? I'd rather use the cardboard in place of the seats in the '65!

[ferrarigod]

Ferrari = Red.

:tony:

[Michaelhatesfans]

Ferrari = Red.

:tony:

Usually...:cool:

http://8w.forix.com/surtees/js-usa64.jpg